1 589 
fe M47 




w^ 



^r. 






>> 









,n; 






.V^ »>,^ 



1^. 



^-./ 







\ ^:w" ..*''\. •-^^•" , ^"-'^^^ . ""^W.*" ./\. ■ 











,0' 



.0' 



4 o . .,;?^!Mi^ • 







'^ "-^^o-* 









-^^ 



.0 



,v 



^^ 


0^ 




^--^ 


°<. 


•^o 













«1> ** *%• -^^ A 



MILWAUKEE 

SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS 
A CITY 

A Book oif Present-Day Milwaukee 

Together with a Brief Historical 

Review of Its Growth and 

Achievements 

1921 



DeDication: Uo t[)e ^i^- 
neet0. to^ose coucagc. Inteff: 
ritp and iiiDustrp e0tab= 
lio^ed t^e ttnn tounbatton^t 
ot a citp tofjicS (n its dap ot 
potoct rrmembfts toitS ffrat= 
itude t|)c earnest men and 
toomen tD|)o came to dtoell 
and build \xi t^e toilderness. 



Published by the 

>^^\^^:>^^ye.^75th ANNIVERSARY COMMITTEE 



Copyright 1921 by Meyer-Rotier Printing Co., Milwaukee 











LIBRARY OF CONGn'^S? 
nCCElVEO 

NOV! 51922 



This Is the City the People Built 



1846-1921 



1846 — Population 18,000 



1921 —Population 522,655 



WHEN peupk' ask "What kind of a town is it?" they really want to 
know what kind of a town it is to live in. It is coinention and not 
human interest that continues the time-honoret! custom of hej^inning 
every account of municipal development with cohniins of statistics. There 
are cities that qualify on the side of business, but which nobody wants to live in 
any longer than he has to. 

If Milwaukee has one outstanding reason for civic pride, after rounding out 
three quarters of a century, it is the fact that here has been de\ eloped a great 
manufacturing center which is at the same time acknowledged to be one of the 
most beautiful and desirable places of residence in America. One must have 
visited the important factory towns of the w'orld to appreciate how rare this 
combination is, how striking, to those who know industrial centers only as 
places spoiled for everything but sheer toil, the spectacle of a cit\ that is mighty 
in industry yet unsurpassed in beauty and remarkable for one lack — the absence 
of slums and tenement districts. There is no better method of directing atten- 
tion to Milwaukee's inherent soundness as a community than to emphasize at 
the outset the fact that the homes of this city, be they large or small, are very 
little less than 100 per cent neat, clean and habitable. It means more than the 
mere words signify when one of the world's great manufacturing cities can 
boast of more shade trees than any other place of equal size on the Continent. 

There is a pride beyond statistics in the broad, clean, well-lighted streets. 
All of which is preliminary to the statement that Milw aukee is a good place to 
live as well as a good place to work. 

Founded by a trader, Milwaukee is a cit\ marked by tin 
arising from a steady de- 
velopment on sound com- 
mercial lines. No accident 
of war, no caprice of a 
ruler, no stampede of ad- 
\enturers was responsible 
lor the establishment of a 
cit\ here. A white man 
bent on the peaceful nu's- 
sion of trade came aii(! 
built his cabin of logs and 
from that day to this the 
story of Milwaukee has 
been one of consistent 
growth in commercial 
power and unportance. 

The story of Milwauke 
is the story of a community, 

not of a locality-. The cit\ Looking Kast on Wisconsin Str, 



sohd tjiialities 





■"'^I - 


'^Mi 


! 1 "^ 




Milwaukee Seventy-five Years a City 



is what it is because the earnest character and practical aims of the pioneers set 
in motion activities that attracted the clear headed and steady rather than the 
visionary and restless type of settler. They came from every part of America 
and, as years went on, from every country in Europe, but it has always been the 
singular good fortune of Milwaukee to be favored by the type of man who 
believes in work rather than adventure as a means of getting on in the world. 
This is the real story of Milwaukee — not anecdotes of squabbles among the 
early villagers, not the narration of a big fire — but the story of the assembling 
here of half a million people whose antecedents touch every part of the world 
and who speak many different tongues, but who possess to a remarkable degree 
the common characteristics of thrift and industry. 

The people and not the place have made Milwaukee great. The Indian 
village that Juneau found beside the curving bay had not the strategic advantage 
of position that caused some cities to grow simply because of converging lines of 
trade. It may fairly be said that the single advantage possessed by the early-day 
Milwaukee, as compared with nimierous other settleiuents m the same region, 
lay in its harbor. 

The lure of gold fields and oil wells draws one kind of man. Rushes and 
hegiras without number there have been in quest of the pot of gold at the end 
of the rainbow. Milwaukee was not even in their beaten track from East to 
West. Besides when a tanner settles in the market town of a farming district 
and begins to make leather, he is not joined by the gambler or the man who 
moves often for the love of change. The builder is foiuid by his own kind 
and they come to build with him. 

So it has come about that Milwaukee has, in every period of the city's exist- 
ence, had a population characterized by the strong domestic tastes, the thrift 
and persistent energy always found in a people mainly occupied with essential 
industries. That is why Milwaukee is a city of factories and like- 
wise a city of homes to be desired, of schools and institutions that 
minister to all that is highest and best in life, of beaut\- spots 
which any city in any land might have pride in possessing. 

From the hamlet planted by Juneau has grown a city which in 
the year 1920 contributed to the commerce of the 
world products of a total value of $1,101,230,250.00. 
The metal trades and the food, leather, textile, chem- 
ical and wood-working indus- { 
tries are credited with substan- \ 
tially three-fourths of this im 
pressive total — a case 
where figures are an 
eloquent index to the 
kind of city that has 
been built. 

From the earliest 
period the Milwaukee 
settlers gave evidence of 
an understanding that 
business is not the sole 





1. (iiand Avenue Congregational Church 

2. Second Church of Christ Scientist 

3. All Saints' Cathedral 

-4. St. Josephat Cluirch and Kosciusko Park 



5 St John's Cathedral 

6. St. Paul's Church 

7. .St. James and Gesu Churches 

8. (irand .\venue M. E. Church 



Milwaukee — Seventy-five Years a City 



and ultimate interest of humanity. In the sense that many other settlements 
went through that experience, it never had a "wild west" stage, because the 
settlers were nearly all of a class that had no time for riotous and reckless liv- 
ing. The pioneers very early turned their thoughts to the subject of education 
and a public school was opened in 1836. 

Education 

Milwaukee is proud of its schools. The present public school system was 
established in 1847 and the first district schoolhouse on Cass Street, between 
Brady and Pleasant, was named in honor of Solomon Juneau. In the first three 
years there were 648 pupils enrolled, with an average attendance of 375. In 
1021 the city has seventy-six public schools, with an attendance of more than 
60,000 pupils and a teaching staf? of 1 ,600. The practice of naming the school- 
houses after prominent men continued until 1880, after which time they were 
designated by district numbers. The first kindergarten was established in 1879. 
The teaching of German was started in April 1859, being advocated by Mr. 
Ferd. Kuehn, then a member of the school board from the 6th Ward. In addi- 
tion to her public schools, Milwaukee has a splendid system of private and 
parochial schools as well as private institutions for academic college education. 
In 1885 the Milwaukee State Normal School was established here. As the in- 
dustries grew in Milwaukee, business colleges were established and today there 
are several private colleges for training in business and technical courses. The 
Milwaukee School of Engineering is a rapidly expanding institution established 
to provide technical training, under a system which combines class room study 
with practical experience in the manufacturing concerns of the city. 

Marquette University 

Marquette University', built upon the foundation of what was for many 
years Marquette College, is Milwaukee's largest institution of learning and, 
with the sole exception of the State University, the largest in Wisconsin. In- 
corporated as a college in 1804, the institution broadened its field and was 
chartered as a uni\ersity in 1006. In the same year the new building adjoining 
the Gesu Church was erected. Milwaukee IVIedical College afTiHated with the 
University and the Milwaukee Law School became its Law Department. In 
1912-13 the University acqinred possession and control of Trinity Hospital and 
the schools of medicine, dentistry and pharmac) of Milwaukee Medical College, 
and purchased the property of the Wisconsin College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons, on the corner of Fourth Street and Reservoir Avenue. A complete re- 
organization of the medical faculty was effected and a four-year course estab- 
lished, this course to he preceded by two years of prescribed arts and science 
work and followed by one year of service as an interne in a hospital. In respect 
to entrance requirements and clinical and laboratory equipment, the standards 
of the American Medical Association were fully met and Marquette College 
of Medicine has since 1915 been accorded a "Class A" rating by that association. 

Similarly high standards were established for the other professional schools, 
new buildings were erected and students flocked to the classes in numbers which 
proved that the university filled a real need of the city. 




1. Bird's-Kyc View Noilheast from I'lankinton 3. Hird's-Eye View from Union Depot 
Arcade. 4. Grand Avenue, East from Third Street 

2. West Water Street. 5. Mason Street, looking East 

6. Down Town 



Milwaukee — Seventy-five Years a City 



As now organized Marquette University consists of the following depart- 
ments : 

Arts and Sciences, Applied Science and Engineering, Dentistry, Economics, 
Journalism, Law, Medicine, Music, Training School for Nurses, Marquette 
Academy. A s u m m e r 



school is also maintained. 
For the session of 1920- 
21 the number of students 
enrolled at Marquette was 
3600. The members of the 
the faculty number 27 S 
and the university occupies 
eleven buildings. A large 
new gymnasium will be 
ready for occupancy in 
(October, 1921 and several 
additional buildings are to 
be erected shortly, includ- 
ing one for the School of 
Dentistry. 

The University is non- 
denominational and in- 
cludes in its faculty and 
student body men and 
women of all faiths. It 
is likewise co-educational 
and admits women to all 
of the professional schools. 




il i' ii ii ii 



J& if 

•" ' v.. i.; 



^^^^^^ 



Citv Ilall 



Milwaukee-Downer College 

In Milwaukee-Downer college the city has one of the oldest and best insti- 
tutions for the higher education of women in the Middle West. Milwaukee 
College, which was chartered in 1851, and Downer College, which since 185S 
has been located at Fox Lake, Wisconsin, were united in 1895 to form the 
present institution. The college has occupied the present site on the upper 
East Side since 1899, when Merrill Hall and Holton Hall, the two oldest 
buildings of the fine group now standing there, were completed. The campus 
includes about forty acres of land, with tine natural woods and athletic fields 
for outdoor sports. Since 1910 Milwaukee-Downer Seminary, formerly a 
department of the college, has been maintained as a separate school, under the 
control of the trustees and the college president. The college faculty has forty- 
two members. 

Milwaukee-Downer confers the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of 
Science, Bachelor of Science in Arts and Bachelor of Science in Nursing. 
Graduates of the college receive from the State Department of Education an 
unlimited certificate for teaching, on the same conditions as do graduates from 
the University of Wisconsin. The departments of art and music are exception- 
ally well organized and equipped. Since 1918, when it was first established 
as an emergency war measure, a course in occupational therapy has been offered. 




1. Sky Line from Government Pier 

2. Chicago and Northwestern Depot 
i. I'ubHc Service Building 



4 "Milwaukee" Koad Depot 

5. Juneau Park, looking North 

6. Whaleback Steamer Christopher Columbus 



Milwaukee — Seventy-five Years a City 



and in that connection the excellent facilities of Columbia Hospital, located 
near the college, are available. A department of domestic science was opened 
in 1901 and now offers a four-year course in home economics. 

In the Greene Memorial Library Milwaukee-Uowner has a collection of 
15,700 volumes and approximately 6000 pamphlets. The Thomas A. Greene 
Memorial Museum is particularly rich in minerals and fossils and contains 
also the Lapham collection of Wisconsin antiquities, a part of the Dr. J. A. 
Risce collection of Mexican antiquities and many other objects of interest to 
students. The endowment fund, which in 1910 amounted to about $216,000, 
was in that year increased by $500,000 in a campaign conducted by alumni and 
friends of the institution. In equipment, as in the quality of instruction given 
and the influences with which students are surrounded, Milwaukee-Downer 
takes high rank among American colleges for women. The declared purpose 
of the founders was "to secure an institution for the liberal education of women, 
at once distinctly Christian and distinctly non-sectarian." 

Public Library 

The Milwaukee Public Library had for its nucleus the collection of books 
formed by the Young Men's Association, which was formed December 8th, 
1847. Names that stand out in the history of Milwaukee appear in the com- 
mittee of organization, which consisted of S. Osgood Putnam, Edward P. 
Allis, John H. Van Dyke, Edward D. Holton, H. W. Tenney, Garrett Vliet 
and I. M. Mason. For many years the library established by this association 
was housed in rented rooms and in 1878, when by act of Legislature the Public 
Library was created, the association's collection of 9,958 books was turned over 
to the city as a free gift. John Plankinton erected the first building occupied 
by the Public Library, on the property at the north-west corner of Grand 
Avenue and Fourth Street, where at one time Byron Kilbourn lived. There 
the library remained until the present building on Grand Avenue between 
Eighth and Ninth Streets was erected. 




inii Museum IliiiMin 
11 




1. Republican House 3. Hotel I'lankinton 

2. Hotel Astor 4. Hotel Wisconsin 

5. Hotel Pfister 



Milwaukee — Seventy-jive Years a City 



V . 



^^JUttiMfttdl':' mHL 




Grand Avenue \ lailiict - The tiatcway to II 



In 1921, with its collection of 410,148 volumes, the Milwaukee Public 
Library ranks eighth in size among the libraries of the United States. As re- 
gards intelligent effort to make the institution actively a part of the educational 
agencies of the city and to popularize its use, the library is unsurpassed in 
America. A circulation for home use, in 1920, of 1,801,907 volumes placed 
it in the front rank in that respect. Estimates indicate that the number of 
personal visits to the library for purposes of study is approximately 1,000,000 
per annum. That is, the library is used to that extent apart from the number of 
persons who draw books for home use. 

The cost of circulating a book in Milwaukee is 10 cents, as compared with 
24 cents in Boston, 21 cents in Pittsburgh, 16 cents in Detroit and 13 cents in 
St. Louis and Seattle. The library has a total of 213 distributing agencies, 
including 1 1 city branches, 72 county branches and 49 deposit stations in 
factories and work-shops and various other institutions. Supplementing these 
agencies are 450 class room sets of books in 67 public and parochial schools. 
Special emphasis is laid upon reference work at the main library, which contains 
one of the largest and best equipped reference departments in the country, em- 
bracing about all the material essential to a separate business branch library. 

The Public Library maintains also a well equipped Municipal Reference 
Library in the City Hall. Its purpose is primarily to collect and classif\- in- 
formation on all sorts of municipal subjects and problems which members of the 
Common Council, city officials or others may be led by their duties or interest 
to investigate. 

Music 

Music has since the earliest days of the city been the objcrt of particular 
attention in Milwaukee. The first musical society, the Beethoven, was organ- 
ized in 1843, with E. D. Holton as president. The Milwaukee Musical So- 




1. Sacred ITeart Sanitarium 

2. Columbia Hospital 

3. The Milwaukee Hospital 



4. rniiilN llu>i)ilal 

5. St. Mary's Hospital 

6. St. Joseph's Hospital 



Milwaukee — Seventy-five Years a City 



ciety has existed since 1850 and had for its first director a renowned musician, 
Hans Balatka. The Milwaukee Liedertafel dates from 1858 and the Arion 
Club, the Lyric Club, the A Capella Choir and many other organizations that 
continue to flourish were formed in later years. 

The population has always included a large proportion of music lovers. For 
many years summer opera was maintained at Schlitz Park, now a public pleas- 
ure ground renamed in honor of Increase Allen Lapham and a place of which 
thousands of the older residents have pleasant memories. Many famous artists 
of other days sang at Schlitz Park and a high standard of excellence marked 
the performances. In 1886 the national saengcrfest of the North American 
Saengerbund was held in Milwaukee and brought together the greatest as- 
semblage of musical societies that had been seen in the United States up to that 
time. Attention had been particularly directed to the city as a musical center 
at the Buffalo saengcr- 
fest of 1883, when the 
male chorus of the Mil- 
A'aukee Musical Society, 
under the direction of 
Eugene Luening, car- 
ried off the highest 
honors. 

Popular concerts 
have always been in 
high favor. Through 
man}' years the Bach 
concerts at West Side 
Turner Hall gave en- 
joyment to lovers of 
good music. That a taste 
for the better quality of 
music continues is at- 
tested by the large at- 
tendance at thepopular- 

priced Sunday afternoon s\mph()ny concerts given every winter at the Audi- 
torium. With the completion of the Auditorium the city acquired facilities for 
the adequate presentation of grand opera. Park concerts, provided at municipal 
expense, enjoy an immense popularity and give pleasure to thousands in the sum- 
mer season. 




A l)ount(j\vn Section (Site of Juneau's Trading Tost) 



Public Museum 

In addition to the public library Milwaukee has one of the most wonderful 
museums in the world. The Public Museum of the city of Milwaukee was 
founded in 1883. It is, therefore, thirty-seven years old and has made remark- 
able progress in this relatively short time. Founded with an appropriation of 
only $6,000 per annum, its mill tax rate now gives it an appropriation of ap- 
proximately $140,000 per annum. It occupies over three-quarters of the Mu- 
seum and Library Building at Eighth Street and Grand Avenue and it is the 
largest, strictly municipal museum in the United States. 




.,,,1.1111 II Hi' '"'"iiii(,u^ir::;;' = 

I iittiiiiiufii II iHij.'ju, ,■,!,„ ; 

LiiiiiiiiUltli )l iiUlhii.iih 

lllilltiltdKWF tiilUiiliiiUliii 

|«»ii!tri:i!![! IMi»"""!f!!!,„ 









1. First Wisconsin National Bank Building 4. The IMajestic Building 

2. Y. M. C. A. Building 5. Wells Building 

3. Milwaukee Athletic Building 6. Chamber of Commerce 

7. Northwestern Mutual Life Building 



Milwaukee — Seventy-fi-ve Years a City 



^ 




The Audituiium 

Its collections number over a half million objects, covering all of the various 
branches of science, and are housed in glass cases and in other suitable manners 
on the three exhibition Hoors of the institution. Its series of life-size environ- 
mental groups of ethnology, history, mammalogy, ornithology and invertebrate 
zoology are very extensi\e and comprise one of the most important features of 
the entire institution. 

Its lecture work is very extensive, lectures being given to school children in 
large numbers and also special courses for adults, particularly the Sunday after- 
noon course of public lectures. All told, during the year 1920 about 80,000 
people attended lectures at the Museum. The attendance at the Museum 
numbers about 600,000 visitors per year. 



Sewage Disposal 



At the present moment Milwaukee is engaged in a work of municipal im- 
provement in which it is the pioneer and which by its magnitude and importance 
has attracted attention all over the world. Its purpose is to prevent the pol- 
lution of the lake waters by constructing a plant which will so treat the sewage 
as to produce a clear efHuent from which 90 to 95 per cent of the bacteria have 
been removed. A total expenditure of $5,000,000 is contemplated for works 
designed to dispose of a maximum of 85,000,000 gallons of sewage daily, a 
capacity which it is estimated will be required by the year 1930. The plans 
provide for a further extension of the capacity to 130,000,000 gallons daily, 
which is the estimated requirement for 1950. A large amount of sewer con- 
struction work has been completed in preparation for this enterprise and the 
disposal plant is now being built near the harbor entrance, on land recovered 
from the lake at a cost of $500,000. Milwaukee spent $350,000 for investiga- 
tion and experiment in connection with this great undertaking. The engineer 
in charge comments on these experiments as being "so far as the writer knows. 



17 




1. Post Office 

2. National Soldier's Home 

3. Ivanhoe Commandery 



4. Layton Art Gallery 

5. Wisconsin Club 

6. Lake I'ront Water Tower 



Milwaukee — Seventy-five Years a City 



the most extensive investigations ever made by any one city in any one line of 
municipal improvement." The process to be employed is known as the activated 
sludge system. It is calculated that there will be an $18 per ton return from 
dried sludge, of which one ton will be produced from every million gallons of 
sewage. The dried sludge contains 4.5 per cent nitrogen as ammonia. The 
great merit of the enterprise, however, is its value as a sanitary measure. 

Linked to the Atlantic 

It is quite within the bounds of probability that long before Milwaukee's 
centenary is celebrated the city will enjoy the advantage of direct water-borne 
commerce with all parts of the world. 

Milwaukee already has access to the Atlantic, but not on a scale adequate 
to make the route commercially practicable. Many years ago a small vessel 
carried grain direct from the Milwaukee docks to England. Some 150 vessels 
left the Great Lakes for ocean service during the war, the longer ones cut in 
half to enable them to pass the locks of the Welland Canal and the canals of 
the St. Lawrence. 

In June 1919, the steamer Lake Grampian carried a cargo of flour from 
Milwaukee direct to Queenstown, Ireland. The cargo comprised 4,000 tons 
the limit of capacity fixed by the Welland locks. Canada is spending $75,000,- 
000 to enlarge these locks. The old locks are 240 feet long, 30 feet w:ide and 
14 feet deep. The new locks will be 800 by 80 by 30 feet. Carriers cannot 
engage profitably in ocean trade short of a capacity of 8,000 tons or over, and 
these can be accommodated by the improvements under way. 

The United States is asked to participate in the canalization of the St. 
Lawrence for a distance of less than 50 miles, covering the famous Lachine 
rapids. The river must be dammed to provide locks to neutralize the drop of 
221 feet, and this will involve a joint expenditure bv the Canadian and L^nited 
States Governments of $200,000,000 to $300,000,000. Hydro-electric power 
aggregating 4,000,000 horsepower will be developed as a by-product. The 
revenues, it is pointed out, would pay the bonds required to finance the canal- 
ization of the St. Lawrence in a few ^ears. The coal thus saved is estimated 
at 25,000,000 tons a year, New England's annual consumption. 

The International Joint Commission of Canada and the L^nited States which 
is investigating the proposition in the two countries has held hearings in the 
leading cities in the Great Lakes section and endorsement of the project was 
almost unanimous. The report of the engineers will establish the feasibility of 
the development, after which the Joint Commission has three months to submit 
a report and recommendations to their respective governments. 

In its review of year 1920, the First Wisconsin National Bank points out: 

"Most of the great territory lying between the Allegheny and Rocky 
Mountains will be served by this ocean waterway. This area produces two 
thirds of the exportable products of the United States. It supplies 76 per cent 
of the wheat, 85 per cent of the corn, 72 per cent of the live stock, 55 per cent 
of the wool, 70 per cent of the cotton, 94 per cent of the iron ore, 47 per cent 
of the lumber, 69 per cent of the petroleum, 60 per cent of the bituminous coal 
and produces nearly 50 per cent of all our manufactured products. 

"The traffic on the Great Lakes now amounts to 100,000,000 tons a year. 
The opening of the sea-route will greatly increase it. It is estimated con- 

19 




1. Grain Elevators 3. Coal Barge 

2. Car Ferry 4. Coal Docks, Menomonee Valley 

5. Mfiiomonee Valley looking Southwest. 



Milwaukee — Seventy-five Years a City 



servatively that from $12,000,000 to $15,000,000 will be saved annually from 
grain shipments to Europe alone. The saving to farmers of the country for all 
agricultural products will be many times that amount. 

"The Great Lakes have fifty-four grain terminals, the Atlantic seaboard 
only ten. Milwaukee is 400 miles closer to the ports of Europe by way of 
the St. Lawrence than by way of the port of New York, while the increase in 
freight rates by rail has, during the past few decades, in effect doubled Milwau- 
kee's distance from tide-water. 

"It means much to Milwaukee and Wisconsin to have this city made an ocean 
port, but it means more to Iowa and other adjacent territory , which will ship 
its exports through Milwaukee to avoid present congestion at Chicago and the 
eastern terminals. This congestion has cut the average distance traveled by 
a loaded freight car about 12 miles a day, figures show; a cargo steamer can 
make more than that distance every hour. 

"llie completion of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence pnjject will help Wiscon- 
sin to realize the prophecy of history. Wisconsin's portages were the keystone 
of the waterway's arch from Quebec to New (Orleans, for they connected Lake 
Superior with the Mississippi through the Bois Brule and the St. Croix, and 
Lake Michigan with the Mississippi through the Fox and the Wisconsin. These 
were established not long after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, and enabled 
the French, with a comparatively small military force, to dominate the American 
continent for many decades. Often the floods of the Wisconsin swept over its 
banks and overran the mile and a half between the Wisconsin and the Fox, 
and thus its waters found an outlet into the Great Lakes and so down the St. 
Lawrence to the Atlantic." 

Milwaukee's Diverse Products 

Not only is Milwaukee one of the largest industrial centers of the United 
States, but it is known as the city which produces a greater diversity of manu- 
factures than any other. A summary of the city's activities compiled by the 
Milwaukee Association of Commerce gives a comprehensive view of the city's 
principal industries and advantages: 

Iron and Steel. Milwaukee is one of the largest steel casting centers and has 
turned out some of the largest castings made in the United States. 

Machinery. Has some of the largest machinery shops in the world. Is a 
large producer of water-pumping, ice-making and refrigeration machinery. 
Has exported more excavating machinery than any other city in the country. 

Engines. Has turned out large Diesel engines, the largest gas engines, 
Uniflow engine and a majority of the gas engines built in the United States. 

Travelinf/ Crane. Has the largest and best equipped plant for the manu- 
facture of electric traveling cranes and hoists in the United States. 

Aline Hoists. Constructed the largest mine hoist uiu'ts in the world. 

Car Jf'orks. The third largest locomotive and car works in the I nited 
States, the largest owned by a railroad corporation. 

Gears and Controls. Milwaukee leads the country in the manufacture of 
herring-bone gears for power transmission and gasoline locomotives for mining 
and plantation use. Leads the world in making controlling devices for electrical 
apparatus. Furnished the electric firing controls for many battleships in the 
United States Navy and most of the automobile controls used in the countr\ . 



Milwaukee — Seventy-five Years a City 




Grand Avenue, looking West 



East Water Street, looking North 



Refrigeration Machinery. Is an important center for the construction of 
ice-making and refrigeration machinery. 

Enameling. One of the largest tinware and enameling producers in the world. 

Saiv Mills. Manufactvire 75 per cent of the heavy saw mills machinery 
made in the United States. 

Boat Motors. Makes more outboard, detachable rowboat motors than any 
other city in the world. 

Motorcycles. Milwaukee leads the world in the manufacture of highest 
quality motorcycles. 

Automobile Accessories. One of the largest general automobile accessory 
manufacturing centers in the United States. 

Leather and Shoes. MiWaukee manufactures a more varied line of leathers 
than any other city in the United States. Is one of the leading shoe manufactur- 
ing cities in America. Its tanneries are among the greatest in the world. 

Temperature Regulation. Was the pioneer in temperature regulating de- 
vices and leads the world in the manufacture of this line. 

Rubber Tires. Maintains one of the leading rubber tire manufacturing 
plants in the United States. 

Dyes. Has since the war built up the second largest dye industry in the 
United States. 



Milwaukee — Seventy-five Years a City 



Tru/iks and Grips. Is one of the three larger trunk and grip manufactur- 
ing centers in the United States. 

Clothing. Stands as the eleventh city in the production of clothing. 

Candies and Chocolates. According to population makes more candy and 
chocolates than any city in the United States. 

Delicatessen. Sends fresh rye bread daily to nearly all sections of the 
United States. There is also a wide distribution of a large variety of fine pre- 
pared meats. 

Dairy Capital. Is the metropolis of the greatest dairy state in the Union. 

Automobiles. A nationally known automobile company completed in Mil- 
waukee in 1*^20 a plant that covers fourteen acres and is a model establishment. 
Milwaukee has also the largest plant in the world devoted to the manufacture 
of automobile frames. 



Shippers 



Harbor. One of the best on the Great Lakes. Navigation open all the 
year round. Fourteen steamship lines, including two car ferries operating 
across Lake Michigan ; three lines of break-bulk steamers; six lines of steamers 
connecting w^ith the lower lakes; and three lines for shore traffic. The inner 
harbor is equipped with 29 coal receiving plants, receiving a total of 5,000,000 
tons with a capacity of handling 100,000 tons every ten hours, and with 18 
terminal warehouses, with 525,135 square feet of floor space. In the number 
of vessels entering and leaving, Milwaukee is the second port on the Great 
Lakes. 

Rail Transportation. Milwaukee is next to the largest freight contribut- 
ing point on three great syj^tems of railway, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. 
Paul, 10.392 miles; the Chicago & Northwestern, 10,169 miles; the Soo Line, 
3,977 miles; and is an important terminal of the Grand Trunk System 8,541 
miles, and the Pere IVIarquette lines, 2,319 miles. An outer belt line is main- 
tained by the Chicago & Northwestern, and another is contemplated by the 
"Milwaukee" road. 

Interurban Lines. Convenient connections with the most important cities 
and \illages within a radius of Milwaukee, extending south, southwest, west 
and north. Total, 278 miles. Commodious terminals are provided. 

Grain Operations. Next to Chicago, Milwaukee is the largest primary 
oats market in the United States, and is the second largest corn market in the 
country. Milwaukee now has upward of forty firms which receive and sell 
grain seeds, hay, etc., a consignment and storage and shipping elevators with 
a total annual capacity of 20,000,000 bushels of grain ; a milling industry con- 
sisting of three flour mills of a combined capacity- of 5,420 barrels of wheat 
and rye flour per day ; two oat meal mills, 1 ,9()0 barrels per day ; two corn 
products mills which require 7,500,000 bushels of corn per annum for their 
capacity use; and a linseed oil mill which absorbs the flax seed receipts at this 
market. 

Street Car Serz'ice. lOl miles, most of it doidile track, within the one-fare 
limit. By a transfer system it is possible to ride twelve or more miles for a 
single fare, and one line carries many passengers nine miles without change of 
cars and for a single fare. 



Milwa ukee — Sevt < 




AEROPLANE VIEW OF THE CENTRAL 



Hotels. Alilwaukee is provided with many good hotels, several of which 
have national reputations for excellence. Hotels now building and contemplated 
will give the city exceptional facilities for housing the ever-increasing numbers 
of visitors that are attracted by the numerous conventions that are held in 
Milwaukee. 

Health. Is one of the most healthful cities in the United States. While the 
business section lies in a valley, the elevations which surround it afford most 
delightful residence sections and excellent drainage. 

Parks and Boulevards. The park system is the admiration of all visitors. 
Every section of the cit> has its own park. Park area : City, 950 acres ; adjacent 
to city, 352 acres. 

Civic. One of the most orderl\' and law abiding cities in the nation, having 
a lower percentage of vice and crime than any other large city. 

Education. The standard of its school system is the highest. It maintains 
a great university, a state normal school, several colleges and is the first Amer- 
ican city to maintain completely equipped trade schools as a part of the common 
school svstem. 



-five Years a City 






II II II II mm II ff I' .-, 

II ri ri ri ;i u iri u\\, 

llllllllllllllll in< HUM mil 

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii ilininiiiifrnniin 

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii litiiiiHMMMniini 

llllllllllllllll iiiiiMHiiifitniiiii I 

II mill II II 11-^ liililiiiiiHiiiiiiiii I 




INESS SECTION OE iMILWAUKEE, 1921 



Manufacturing Summary 

A condensed statement of the city's manufacturing and wholesale business for 
the year 1920 shows a total of 1609 firms engaged. The aggregate capital 
employed was $520,460,210 and the wages paid amounted to $195,007,045. 
Further statistics for the year are: 

No. of Employees Value of Products 

Metal Trades : 62,125 $ 330,515,889 

Food Industry 11,271 163,640,564 

Leather Industry 12,181 93.452,79] 

Textile Industry 13,750 76,899,927 

Chemical. Drug and Allied Industries 5.712 62.269,223 

Wood Products and Allied Industries 8.938 57.663,390 

Various Industries 6.917 46,746.222 

Building Trades Industry 7,319 22,481,828 

Total Manufacturing 128,213 $ 853,669,834 

Jobbing and Wholesale Business 5,893 247,568,416 

Grand Total 134,106 $1,101,238,250 




1. McKinley Beach 

2. Golf Links Lake Park 

3. Gordon Park Swimming School 



4. Mitchell Park 

5. Play Grounds, Kosciusko Park 

6. Ice Skating Races on Milwaukee River 




1. Sunken Garden, Mitchell Park 

2. Washington Park 

3. Kosciusko Park, P.oatint' 



4. Humboldt Park 

5. Washington Park Bridge 

6. South Shore Beach 




1. Clark S(|uare 

2. Fifth Ward Square 

3. Concert at Lake Park 



4. Sherman Park 

5. Lincoln I'ark 

6. Walker S(iuare 





1. Northeast Section of City 3. Stadium Platform Lake Park 

2. Yacht Club and Life Saving Station 4. Milwaukee River 

5. Canoe Races, on River 



•t 

^ 



^;-«i 



,4 






f^l£ 




.^ 











Historical 



The First White Man 

It is believed that the iirst white man to see the hind on which Milwaukee 
was afterwards built was Father Marquette, whose name is fittingly borne 
by the University in which the city takes a just pride. It is fairly certain that 
the intrepid missionary put into Milwaukee Bay on his journey along the coast 
of Lake Michigan in 1674, and it is possible that he and Joliet \isited the place 
the previous year, 1673, when they traveled from the Illinois country to Green 
Bay. In 1678 another missionary. Father Zenobe Membre, journeyed down 
the coast from Green Bay to the Illinois, with a party that included the 
Sieur de La Salle, Father Louis Hennepin and Gabriel de la Ribourde. In his 
relation, published in 1680, Father Membre speaks of "The nation of the 
Maskoutens and Outagamies who dwell at about 43 N., on the banks of the 
river called Melleoke, which empties into Lake Dauphin (Michigan) very 
near their \illage." The journal of Father Jean Buisson de St. Cosme indicates 
that he also saw the clustered wigwams of Milwaukee in October, 1699. 

For many years after the visits of these missionaries the place is not men- 
tioned in the record of white men's activities. The Indians lived undisturbed 
in their village, enfolded by forests. But in the meantime trade, that invincible 
tra\eler who penetrates e\ ery wilderness, was coming this way. 

A Trading Post 

Lieut. James Gorrell of the British army, who had command of the military 
post at Green Bay, in his journal under date of June 5, 1762, speaks of a branch 
of the Taways (Ottawas), consisting of about 100 warriors, who lived at 
"Milwacky," and to whom traders regularly went from Green Bay. On 
August 20th of the same year, he records the arrival at the Bay of a party of 
Indians from this same Milwacky, who "made great complaint of the trader 
amongst them." 

It is therefore clear that at this comparati\ely early date, there was a reg- 
ularly established trading 
post at the Indian village 
on the Milwaukee River, 
and it may be inferred that 
the fault finding was not 
entirely confined to the 
Indians, for Col. Arent 
Schuyler de Peyster, who 
commanded the British 
military post at Michili- 
mackinac, on the 4th of 
July 1779, speaks of them 
as "those runegades of Mil- 
wakie, a horrid set of re- 
fractory Indians." The 
colonel's aversion to them '^^i^^^<s^=ij^^sS^'»;i^^»i?-J^^ 

seems to have been caused Solomon Juneau's Log House, 1820 








31 




The Founders of Milwaukee 



Mihvaukee — Seventy-five Years a City 



principally b\- their stout refusal to take part in the great council called at 
L'Arbre Croche for the purpose of aiding and abetting the proposed expedi- 
tion of Lieut. Gov. Hamilton from Detroit against Col. George Rogers 
Clarke, in command of the Revolutionary forces in the Illinois country. 

Langlade 

It was at this time in 177'^, tliat Charles Langlade, the first settler of Wis- 
consin, was sent to Milwaukee by the British commander at Green Bay to 
bring the Indians around and induce them to lielp tlie British fight the colonists. 
Langlade came in full British regimentals and decided to try the effect of an 
ancient Indian ceremony, the dog feast. In a lodge erected for the purpose, he 
placed at each of the two doors the heart of a dog, impaled upon a stick. Then, 
chanting a war song, he passed through the lodge and bit a piece from each heart 
in turn. This was a solemn summons to battle and wdien the rites were con- 
cluded the Milwaukee Indians agreed to follow Langlade to the council. The 
braves had no opportunity to fight for the British, however, for when their ex- 
pedition, under the command of Langlade, had proceeded as far as St. Joseph, 
word came that Clark, the American commander, had forced the British under 
Hamilton to surrender and the Milwaukee Indians returned home without any 
scalps. 

An Indian "Gathering Place" 

It appears probable that these Indians, when they first came in contact with 
the early traders and explorers, were composed of the remnants of various tribes, 
Pottawatomies, Chippewas, Menomonees and a few Ottawas, once important 
branches of the great Algonquin family, and Winnebagoes. Dr. Morse, in his 
report on Indian towns in 1820, states tliat Milwaukee was settled by Sacs and 
Foxes. This statement, if correct, must refer to a very early settlement, for 
Samuel A. Storrow, who spent a little time at the place, wdiile on a foot journey 
to Chicago, in 1817, says the village, w-hich was situated on the right bank of 
the "Millewackie" river, was composed of Pottawatomies. The Menomonees 
have left their name to the river, tributary to the Milwaukee from the west, 
and these two tribes were the only ones of which the government took cog- 
nizance, when their title to the ground on which the piesent city stands was 
extinguished by formal treaties in LS-il and I8.'>,'>. 

The mixed character of the resident Indians may possibly be due to the 
circumstances that the localit\' would seem to have been a common meeting 
place for all the surrounding tribes, who were in the habit of assembling here 
at stated periods for adjusting their difUculties and dissensions in a friendly way, 
transferring their warlike exploits to other places. So from the earliest times 
the name Milwaukee has had peaceful associations. Whether the accident of 
being near a confluence of three rivers had imparted to the locality a sacredness 
in the eyes of the Indians, wdiich made it a heinous offence to commit a deed 
of violence on its soil, no man can now tell; but it has been pointed out that 
traces of this world-wide reverence for the number three are clearly discernible 
among the remains of the aboriginal inhabitants of this continent. It may have 
been a tradition left bv the m\sterious mound-builders. Man\' of the mounds 



Milzvaukee — Seventy-fivf Yrars a City 



found b}' the pioneers about Milwaukee have disappeared, but one, marked by 
a bronze tablet, remains in Lake Park, a monument to the ancient race. 

As to the name Milwaukee the most trustworthy interpretation accordin^i; 
to K. A. Linderfelt, a former public librarian, makes it a Pottawatomie term, 
meaning "gathering-place by the river," the proper ff)rm being "Man-ah-wauk 
sepe," although various other explanations of the name ha\e been suggested, 
referring its origin to other roots and dialects of aboriginal languages. The 
uncertainty as to the proper spelling is no less marked and almost everj^one 
who had occasion to use the name in early days introduced a new variety. 
Usage finally reduced these individual caprices to two recognized forms, only 
differing in the final syllable being spelled either "ee" or "ie." After it had 
come so far as this, however, a Herce and amusing war raged for a time, about 
which of these should prevail, each having its devoted champions among the 
newspapers and people at large. Sectional ill-feeling mingled with the reverence 
for orthographic purity, and while the west side of the river generally espoused 
the cause of the "kie," the east side as bravely stood up for "kee." The west 
siders had the national government on their side, since the name of the post- 
office had been officially set down as Milwaukie. Still, w'hen certain laws were 
published in which the final syllable appeared as "kee," though it was promptly 
charged that the printer had been bribed, the legal influence proved a strong 
ally for the spelling "Milwaukee" and that form gradually became general, 
until only two newspapers, an English and a German one, persisted in the 
old spelling, in spite of all entreaties to fall into line with public opinion. Some 
enthusiastic partisans of reform, who considered this obstinacy a blot on the 
fair name of the village, one night broke into the office of the Milwaukee 
Sentinel and took away all the i's but two, belonging to the font of type used 
for its headline, and as there was nothing else available for the purpose, the 
paper issued on December 7, 1844, appeared with the spelling permanently 
changed to conform with the new notions. The other paper stuck bravely to 
the lost cause, undaunted by threats or taunts, and announced itself as published 
at "Milwaukie," until it died as the "Banner und V^olksfreund." in 18(S0, the 
last of the "kies." 



Juneau's Predecessors 

In \7'H) or thereabout, Jacques Vieau and Jean Baptiste Mirandeau xi^itcd 
Milwaukee, supported by the powerful American Fur Company , and the place 
appears to have pleased Mirandeau so much that when he. shortly afterwards, 
married a Chippewa girl, he brought her here and settled down in a log house 
which he built on the west side of the river near the present Grand Avenue. 
Some >ears after, he built a better dwelling on the west side, where he li\ed 
with his family until his death in 1819. He was a blacksmith by trade and his 
shop is said to have occupied the present site of the Chamber of Commerce. In 
the meantime, several men had appeared tcmporarih- on the scene for the pur- 
pose of trading with the Indians, some of whom, like John B. Beaubien and 
James Kinzie, were connected with the settlement of Chicago; but in 1805 
Jacques Vieau established a branch-house in Milwaukee, in connection with his 
main house in Green Ba\ . 




Wisconsin Street in the Sixties, looking 7. Looking Noith on I'.roadway to Mason 

East. Street. 

8. About 1875, looking Northeast from Broadway and Wis- 
consin Street, showing principal churches of that time. 
East Water Street looking North from 10. I'.roadway and Wisconsin Street, Northwest 
Menomonee Bridge. corner about 1865. 



Milwaukee — Seventy-five Years a City 



Solomon Juneau 

Jacques Vieau spent his summers at Green Ba\ with his family, and the 
winters at Milwaukee until 1818, when Solomon Juneau, who became in 
reality the founder of Milwaukee, after having entered his employ two years 
previously, came to take charge of Vieau's business at this place. Vieau's log 
house, a magazine for goods and another for furs, stood then at a point where 
the Green Bay trail crossed the Menomonee River, on land now included in 
Mitchell Park, where a replica of the original log cabin stands to mark the spot. 
Juneau, having married his employer's daughter in 1820, set up in business for 
himself on the east side of the Milwaukee River, and built a log-house on a 
spot about twenty feet north of the intersection of Wisconsin and l''ast Water 
streets of the present day. 

From this time until 1833, Solomon Juneau and his rapidl\ increasing 
family were the only white inhabitants living in Milwaukee, but visits from 
the North or South were of frequent occurrence. Juneau's name became 
known all over this part of the country as a synonym for uprightness and honesty, 
and his influence over his Indian neighbors seems to have been imbounded. The 
Indians had long since abandoned their settlement at the mouth of the river 
and their wigwams surrounded the store of Juneau, who was indeed, as John 
H, Fonda, calls him, "lord paramount" of the place. It was natural, under 
such circumstances that Juneau's possessions increased, though not nearly as 
rapidly as would have been the case, had he been a man of a different stamp. 
His open-handedness and generosity, together with his unlimited confidence in 
the honesty of his fellow-men, ultimately led him into serious trouble, and he, 
who might have been the owner of untold millions — died poor, in 1856, among 
the Indians at Shawano, in the northern part of the state. 

The eyes of prospective settlers had already been directed to the fair prom- 
ises of this new country, and at the posts of Chicago, Detroit and Mackinaw 
there wtrt many of them, only awaiting the cession of the land to the United 
States. No sooner was the last treaty concluded, than Albert Fowler, Rodney' 
J. Currier, Andrew J. Lansing and Quartus G. Carley started from Chicago 
for Milwaukee and arrived at the house of Solomon Juneau, a better and 
larger one by the way than the one first erected, on November 18. 1833. They 
remained over winter in an unoccupied log shanty built years before bv one 
Le Claire, but soon abandoned, and Fowler was ultimately employed by Juneau 
in his store. The only other white inhabitants at the time, beside Juneau's 
immediate family, were Peter Juneau, his brother, w^ho had a shanty and tilled 
a garden around it a short distance south of Solomon's place; and Paul Vieau, 
a son of Jacques, who lived and traded where his father's place had been. 



Settl 



ers 



In the spring of 1834, other settlers followed and began to start the wheels 
of industry moving where trade alone had thriven before. The Green Bay In- 
telligencer of April 16, 1834, sa^s: "The Milwaukie country is attracting much 
attention. A settlement has commenced near its mouth ; and there can be no 
doubt it will be much visited during the coming season by northern emigrants, 
and bv all who fear the bilious fe\ers and other diseases of more southern 




1 Old Axtrll lli.\iso at South End of East 2. West Water Street, North from (.rand 
VValL-r Street liridge. Avenue. 

3. Courthouse Park sixty years ago, with present court house 
under construction and the one built by Juneau still stand- 
ing. St. John's Cathedral at the right. 
4. Looking toward Spring Street Bridge. 5. The Old Newhall House. 



Milwaukee — Seventy-five Years a City 



latitudes. Two or three young men from the State of New York have com- 
menced the erection of a saw-mill on the first rapid, about three miles above 
the mouth of the Milwaukee River." 

A further extract from the same paper of September, 18.55, five months 
after, will serve to show how rapidly things were advancing in the new settle- 
ment: "The Milwauky : A correspondent at the mouth of the Alilwauky speaks 
of their having a town already laid out; of selling quarter acre lots for five and 
six hundred dollars, and says by fall there will be one hundred buildings up; 
that some fifty people are living there. A gentleman supports a school at his 
own expense. A clergyman is about taking up his abode among them. Albert 
Fowler, Esq., is appointed Justice of the Peace, and their Country Courts will 
be organized at the next session of the Council. Land speculators are circum- 
ambulating it and Milwaukie is all the rage." 



Geo. H. Walker 

Among the others who located permanentlj' at Milwaukee during this 
year, were two men who share with Juneau the honor of being the founders 
of the city, each one being the foremost in one of the natural divisions of the 
place. Geo. H. Walker, originally from Virginia, left Chicago in the autimin 
of 1833 with a stock of goods bound for Milwaukee, but lost the track and was 
obliged to winter at a place on Root River, west of the present city of Racine. 
In March of the following year he reached Milwaukee and built a store on an 
elevated point of land, running through the marshes on the south side of the 
river. This location was so conspicuous a landmark, and so distinct from the 
rest of the town was the settlement which was formed back of Walker's 
residence toward the south, that the present South side was for many years 
designated as Walker's Point. 




.Milw.inkee Street in 18/4 
39 



Milwaukee — Seventy-five Years a City 



Byron Kilbourn 

The other conspicuous arrival was Bjron Kilbourn, born in Connecticut, 
who came from Ohio in May 1834 as United States surveyor, in company with 
his assistant, Garret Vliet. In pursuit of his calling, he visited Milwaukee 
and determined to make it his permanent home. He accordingly, in the 
summer of 1835, selected a site on the west side of the river and became the 
founder of a village, long known as Kilbourntown. 



Milwaukee in 1835 



The late Winfield Smith told what the Milwaukee of that day looked like. 
He wrote: "It is difficult now to realize the scene which this place then rep- 
resented. A plat of the town had been prepared shortly before by Juneau and 
Martin, and recorded September 8, 1835, and some streets began to be known; 
w^hile no plat was recorded of lots west of the river until October 8, and no 
streets were there to be seen. Water covered most of the land south of Michigan 
Street, where grew reeds and rushes, extending from the river to the sandy 
beach of the lake. On the west side a like marsh covered the area between 
Fourth Street and the river, south of Grand Avenue to the Menomonee. Of 
the South Side, Dr. Lapham wrote in 1845 : "The city commences about a mile 
above the mouth of the river, at a place called Walker's Point, and extends 
about a mile and a half along the river. Below Walker's Point the river is 
bordered by impassable marshes." Walker's Point, to which he refers, is a 
name meaningless to younger citizens of Milwaukee. It was a point of high 
ground running several hundred feet through the marsh northeasterly, to the 
south bank of the river, near the present East Water Street bridge. On it 
was built the dwelling of George H. Walker, the first town supervisor, after- 
wards mayor, and he entered the land at the first government sale. That point, 
then conspicuous enough, was the only place where a house could stand within a 
quarter of a mile. Many years ago it disappeared, as the elevation was cut down 

and the marshes on 
both sides were filled. 
Half a dozen houses, 
scattered along for a 
mile to the south, con- 
tained all the popula- 
tion of the South Side. 
The ground was high 
where the point ex- 
tended back, widening 
tov/ard the west. The 
forest grew heavy, ex- 
cept where it had been 
cut away in patches by 
the settlers, and stumps 
not yet uprooted indi- 







^^§^0ni^ 



.f sjLiJ " p i ! 










Market Square, Old City Hall and Opera House 



40 



Milwaukee — Seventy-five Years a City 



cated how recent had been the work of the pioneer. No other trace was seen of 
the hand of civilization. On the East Side, the marshes that covered the whole 
of the present Third Ward were varied by two islands of less marshy land, one 
near the north end of East Water Street bridge, and the other covering the 
corner of Jackson and Detroit Streets, as now laid out, the latter of which bore 
the significant title of Duck Island. The land in which the present Seventh 
Ward lies was mostly high, running by a steep descent into the marshes of the 
Third Ward, and into the marsh which also lay along the river front from 
south to north. The western line of the bluff crossed Wisconsin Street at the 
northeast corner of Broadway. Some seven or eight houses, the furthest north 
of which was near Biddle Street, were all that had yet been built. On the 
west side of the river Longstrcet's and Dr. Oraham's stores, the house of Byron 
Kilbourn at Chestnut Street, and the American House, near the site of the 
present Republican House, were all that were to be seen. The marsh covered 
the Fourth Ward, as now laid out, along the Menomonee river and the Mil- 
waukee as far north as Spring Street (now Grand Avenue). Near Seventh 
Street the ground suddenly rose to the west, and trees covered the bluffs and 
also the low land north of Spring Street. The forest was dense and unbroken, 
penetrated by no roads except Indian trails. These were the white man's only 
guide on his way to Green Bay or to Fort Winnebago. Only three or four 
wagons were in the southeastern part of the territory, and most of the people 
were living in the so-called Cottage Inn, and American House. The line of 
the river was margined by no \\'harfs, and was lost in the rushes which filled 
the marshes. The lake shore has remained with little change to the present 
time, but the mouth of the river was nearly a mile south of the present harbor, 
and the channel meandered through the marshes, considerable portions of which 
vet indicate to the observer how the principal area of Milwaukee then appeared. 
There were some log houses and some frame houses, built without much refer- 
ence to streets, or any other consideration except rapidity and cheapness of 
construction. No brick was seen and none had yet been made. The citizens 
at that time had no suspicion of the richness of the earth which was to furnish 
them a renowned article for the construction of their sightly buildings, and 
which should in time to come, give name and wealth to the city." 

Early Isolation 

To people accustomed to the present means of travel it requires an effort of 
the imagination to realize how completely the people who came from the East 
and helped to build up the city were cut of¥ from the rest of the world. The 
traveler in those days might, with ordinary fortune, be three weeks on the 
journey from Detroit to this place. News came no faster, because there was 
no mail route except by water. The telegraph was not in use. Three to five 
weeks might well be taken for a letter from New York to Milwaukee. The 
only railroad was a light, flat rail track, running a few miles west from Albany, 
and all the remaining journey to Chicago was made in stages, unless tlie traxeler 
was so happy as to get a boat; and from Chicago to Milwaukee lie walked 
unless he rode his own horse. 

The means for internal communication were no less limited. The roads 
leading out of the settlement consisted of the primitive Indian trails, winding 

41 



Milwaukee — Seventy-five Years a City 



their wa_v through the forest in a northerh', westerly or southerly' direction. 
The streets were rough roads on the hillsides or through the swamps, which 
formed a serious obstacle to neighborly intercourse. When an attempt was 
finally made to construct a road from Juneau's side to a district opposite 
Walker's Point, along what is now East Water Street, and much labor had 
been expended in filling, the settlers awoke one fine morning to find that their 
laboriously constructed highway had gone to the bottom of the marsh during 
the night. The crossing of the Milwaukee river was made first in a dug-out 
and afterwards by means of a ferry. The Menomonee, near its confluence with 
the Milwaukee, was very early spanned by a bridge, which was an important 
advantage for the development of Kilbourntown. The effort to establish closer 
communication between the latter place and the East Side resulted in serious 
complications to which we shall revert further on. 



Land Speculation 

Notwithstanding the isolation of the place and the difficulty of reaching it, 
new settlers and speculators began to arrive in large numbers with the opening 
of Spring in 18.i6. Speculation in lands infected the whole country like a verit- 
able craze, and produced the most astonishing results throughout the West. 
Milwaukee shared in the general excitement. Corner lots were bought at 
what a year before would have been fabulous prices, and resold a few days after 
at a considerable advance in price. Buildings went up like magic, stores were 
erected and filled with goods before the roof was fairly on, and a good round 
sum was paid for the privilege of using unoccupied ground, as a market for 
disposing of merchandise, without going to the trouble of building a house for 
it. The East Side particularly was in favor with the new arrivals, and some 
had even the temerity of settling themselves on the few pieces of solid ground 
existing in the midst of the swamp, which was afterwards transformed into 
the Third Ward. 

Among these occur for the first time a number of German names, as for 
instance Henry Bleyer, who settled on Duck Island, and Matthias Stein, gun- 
smith, who took up his abode on top of the steep wooded hill, which rose to the 
height of 50 feet above the marsh on the present Market Square. The cutting 
down of this hill was a work of considerable magnitude, and furnished a large 
amount of material for filling up the marsh ; the place where the old City Hall, 
originally the City Market, now stands, being raised no less than 14 feet. 

Solomon Juneau himself, who during so many years had lived calmly and 
peacefully in the place, became possessed of the general speculative fever and it 
is related that after the excitement had continued all through the summer he 
bought back, for thousands, lots which he had sold in the spring for hundreds. 
With the rapid increase of the population, it was necessary to provide suitable 
quarters for the civil authorities of the county, and Juneau therefore built the 
first court house erected especially for its purpose within the confines of the 
State of Wisconsin, on the high ground north of Oneida Street, and presented 
the whole square on winch it was situated as a free gift to the municipality. 

42 



Milwaukee — Seventy-five Years a City 



This court house continued to do service until the present brown sandstone 
structure was erected on its site in 1871-73. 



Newspapers 

Byron Kilhourn needed a newspaper in his settlement and in Kilbourntown, 
on July 14, 1836, appeared the first number of the Milwaukie Advertiser, after- 
wards the Courier, then the Wisconsin and now the Wisconsin News. The 
Sentinel, sponsored by Solomon Juneau, made its first appearance on June 27, 
1837. Other early day German papers were the Volksfreund, which was started 
in 1846 and the Seebote, founded in 1851. Then came the Herold and the 
Germania, now merged under one control. The Milwaukee Journal dates 
from 1882. 



The Villages and the "Bridge Wars" 

Early in 1837, the \ illage of Milwaukee was incorporated on the east side 
of the River, and Jiuieau elected president of the trustees. Almost simultan- 
eously the village of Kilbourntown was organized on the West Side, with Kil- 
hourn as president, and thereby the foundation laid to a long-standing war be- 
tween the two sides, based on an unusual amount of sectional jealousy and per- 
sonal bitterness. Kilbourn was remarkably energetic and sagacious and set about 
building up his town in a way that fairly bewildered his neighbors and 
threatened to entirely eclipse the ?]ast Side, notwithstanding its earlier prestige. 
New streets were opened, the filling of the marsh progressed rapidly, and a small 
steamer, the Badger, to which was added in 1838, the Menomonee, was pro- 
cured and made regular trips on the river to the foot of Chestnut street ; but was 
not allowed under any circumstances to make a landing on the East Side. Those 
who came by boat, which was in fact the only way to reach the place com- 
fortably, and were bound for Milwaukee, were therefore compelled to go to 
Kilbourntown first, and make their way, as best they could, back to SpringStreet, 
where there was a 
poor sort of ferry to 
Wisconsin street. This 
state of affairs contin- 
ued until 1840, when 
the East Side also pro- 
cured a steamer, the 
"C. C. Trowbridge." 
Even when the two 
parts were politically 
consolidated in May. 
183^, under the name 
of village of Milwau- 
kee with two wards, 
East and West, the 
mutual jealousy con- 
tinued as fierce as ever. l;,,,;,,lw;,v I ,„,l.,n.. XulUl 




'Fi 






Ft T'f''f'!mv ■"'•"? " 



p'liijijii^r:-" 





Milwaukee — Seve7ity-five Years a City 



One of the effects of this sectional ill-feeHng, which will strike the visitor 
of today at once, seriously mars the beauty of our fair city. The streets on each 
side were laid out without any reference to each other, and the result is that 
there is hardly a street in the city which crosses the river in a straight line. It 
has e\en been charged that Kilbourn designedly made his streets, so that there 
should be no possibilit}- of a connection with the rival village by means of bridges, 
and, if so, it is a piece of good luck that he succeeded in carrying out his in- 
tentions no better than he did. 

The efforts to bridge the river form a long chapter in the early history of 
the cit)^ and gave occasion to such a display of animosity, that it has become 
locally know^i as the "bridge-war." Legislative authority for building a bridge 
from Oneida to Wells Street had been obtained as early as 1836; but nothing 
was accomplished and in 1838 the location was changed to Chestnut and Divi- 
sion Streets. At the consolidation of the two villages, each ward was left 
practically independent of the other, as far as internal improvements were con- 
cerned, and this provision was brought into play by Kilbourn town for refusing to 
aid in constructing or maintaining any bridges to the east bank of the river. Nev- 
ertheless the Chestnut Street bridge was completed, with a cumbersome draw in 
1840, and in 1842 a curious floating bridge was built at Spring Street. The latter 
was a trifling affair, and was soon washed away by a freshet, when a regular 
bridge was substituted at this point in 1843. The following year another was 
built, by the exertion of several citizens, at Oneida Street, and the citizens of 
the East Ward, who so far had borne almost the entire expense of maintaining 
the bridges, began to think they were getting too much of a good thing. They 
wanted the West Ward folk to assume their share of the burden, but were 
met with the assurance that Kilbourntown people were not going to pay for 
what they did not want. Thus what was intended as a bond of unity and 
mutual accommodation only served to add fuel to the existing rancor, and the 
wrath kept growing under favorable circumstances until the West Side in- 
habitants on May 8, 1845, to avenge an injury inflicted by a passing schooner 
to Spring Street bridge, intentionally as they claimed, proceeded to saw off as 
much of the Chestnut Street bridge as abutted on their land. When this pro- 
ceeding became known to the East-siders in the early morning, their anger 
knew no bounds. The bells in the village were rung as an alarm, and an in- 
furiated mob collected 
speedily at all the dam- 
aged bridges and pre- 
pared to prevent their 
further destruction. A 
serious riot seemed im- 
minent ; a small cannon 
ivas hauled up to a point 
on the East Side, com- 
manding the house of 
Kilbourn, who would 
ha\c been the target for 
the unreasoning fury of 
the East-siders, had not 
Schiitz Park ^ "lan with his senses 




Milzvaukee — Sevevty-five Years a City 



still left succeeded in making; himself heard sufficiently to tell them that Kil- 
hourn's daughter was lying dead in his house since the previous evening. The 
danger was averted and calmer counsel prevailed ; but the war continued in 
board of trustees and state legislature for more than a year, when an equitable 
agreement was finally reached. 

Incorporation 

In the meantime, all the three parts of the place had been growing w ith 
great rapidity, so that, in March 1843, there were about 4000 inhabitants, in 
February, 1845, Walker's Point was annexed as tlie South Ward, and on 
January 31, 1846, the "Act to incorporate the City of Milwaukee" was ap- 
proved by the governor, and the city came into existence with the full powers 
of an independent mimicipality, divided into five wards. The first charter 
election was held on April 7th, and Solomon Juneau, once the solitary house- 
holder in Milwaukee, was elected the first Mayor of a city containing 9500 
inhabitants. 

Railroads 

February 11, 1847, when the state legislature enacted a bill establishing 
the "Milwaukee and Waukesha R. R. Co." The following year, the charter 
was amended so as to permit an extension of the road to Madison and Missis- 
sippi, and the corporate name was changed in 1850, to the "Milwaukee and 
Mississippi R. R. Co." After a considerable amount of hard work, the $100,000 
required for organization was subscribed for, and the company was organized 
May 10, 1849, wth Byron Kilbourn as president. The directors, among whom 
were E. D. Holton, Alexander Mitchell, E. B. Wolcott and J. H. Tweedy, 
issued at once a preliminary report, in which they declared that "we believe, 
and we lay it down as a first and fundamental maxim that the people of Wis- 
consin are able, within and of themselves, to construct the road ; and we believe 
and lay it down as a second proposition that being able to do it, the true policy 
of the country is to be consulted by the accomplishment of this great enterprise 
from our own resources." It was a great undertaking, nevertheless, for that 
day. The country was sparsely settled and every man had come there with 
small means, which were required for his own individual necessities. All joined 
in the undertaking with a will, however, and work was commenced at Mil- 
waukee in the Fall of 1849. Though there was hardly any money to be had, 
subscriptions had been recei\ed with the understanding that they might be paid 
in such commodities as could be used in the construction of the road. The 
greater part of the grading between Milwaukee and Waukesha was paid for by 
orders drawn on the merchants and farmers in liquidation of such subscription ; 
but when the time came for procuring the necessary iron, this method of build- 
ing a railroad was of no avail. In the emergency, farmers offered to mortgage 
their farms to raise money, but it was soon found that such securities were not 
then negotiable in Eastern markets. As bonds of a city were, however, Mil- 
waukee was appealed to for help, and responded promptly by issuing bonds to 
the amount of $234,000 in aid of the railroad. It was a gala day when trains 
commenced running regularly to Waukesha in February 1851 ; but it was not 
until April 15th, 1857 that the Mississippi was reached at Prairie du Chien. 
This was the modest beginning of the giant corporation Chicago, Milwaukee 



Milwaukee — Seventy-five Years a City 



and St. Paul Railway Co., which todaj- stretches its iron net far beyond the 
goal of that day. The readiness of the city to come to the aid of these early 
railroad enterprises is in strict contrast to the policy of its powerful neighbor, 
Chicago, in its corporate capacity, has never appropriated a dollar to the en- 
couragement of the railroads that have made it what it now is. 

But the success attending this first attempt of turning the city's credit to 
account resulted in a policy of indiscriminate loans to new railroad schemes 
which were brought up from time to time, without much reference to the 
equivalent which the city received, loading it in a short time with a debt of 
$1,380,000 in 7 per cent bonds. When the financial crisis of 1857 crippled 
business throughout the country and the railroads were unable to meet their 
obligations, the city became seriously embarrassed. Things went from bad to 
worse and the year of 1860 opened with no mone> in the treasury, a large bonded 
indebtedness and a most oppressive floating debt of more than $250,000. To 
cap the climax the city clerk and controller were arrested for forgery and em- 
bezzlement, and the Eastern creditors became alarmed at the prospect of 
inevitable repudiation. The difficulty was finally overcome by a readjustment 
of the indebtedness, effected in 1861, which restored the financial credit of the 
city; but this indiscretion exerted a baneful influence on the city finances for 
many years to come. 

The resources of the city, under the new arrangement, were sufficient to en- 
able it to fully recover the lost prestige, and from that time the growth and 
development of Milwaukee has been uninterrupted and substantial. 



Street Cars 



May 30, 1859 the first street cars were run in the city. Two cars were put 
into service, each being drawn by four horses. They ran on East Water 
Street from the bridge to Juneau Avenue. The first day's receipts of one of 
the cars was $30. Thereafter transportation by means of horse cars was 
established in all parts of the city. On June 11, 1874 the first horse 
cars were operated on the West Side of the city, (^n April 3, 1890, 

the first electric car was 
operated in the city, on 
Wells Street, where it 
ran on tracks then 
owned by Washington 
Becker. 



A statement of the 
growth of the transpor- 
tation facilities would 
he incomplete were the 
fact not recorded that 
on May 18, 1899, the 
first automobile was 
operated in the city by 
Geo. \j. Odenbrett. 




Street, East from V.a>\ Water Str( 



46 



Mikvaukee — Seventy-five Years a City 



Milwaukee's War Record 

In the Ci\il War the total number of vohintei-rs and drafted soldiers from 
Milwaukee then a city of 45,246 people, was approximately 5,000, of whom 
about 1,000 were killed or wounded. The draft law of 1862 was unlike the 
selection draft of 1*H7. Under the law of 1*^17 rich and poor alike were 
ordered into service in their turn, while under the draft law of the Civil War 
it was possible for persons of means to escape ser\ ice by providing substitutes. 
These substitutes were paid sums ranging anywhere from $?>{){} to $1,500. 

In the War of Rebellion the foreign born entered the conflict with the 
same order that characterized the nati\e. Again, in the Spanish American War 
Milwaukeeans were well represented and performed their duty nobly and well. 

When the United States entered the great European War her citizenship 
responded in man, machine and money power to the call. Milwaukee was the 
first large city in America to report a complete military registration on June 5. 
More than 13,000 Milwaukee boys enlisted in the military service. 

iVIilwaukee had no strike or indvistrial disturbance t(j check war produc- 
tion; claims the honor of having the iirst 100 per cent registration in the 
Junior Red Cross of any large city ; secured 96,000 pledges to conserve food 
from approximately 98,000 families; increased the sheep and wool production 
of its state by investing $2,500,000 of its capital. It is producing fabricated 
steel ships, millions of shells, grenades and other numitions and hundreds of 
thousands of shoes — all for the Army and Navy. 

The representative of the United States Navy assigned to Milwaukee says: 
"Milwaukee has beaten the record of practically e\ery station in the micklle 
west. Labor has been particularly' loyal." 



minibcrs that cannot be exactly stated. 



Racial Contributions 

In 1842 there were in the settlements of Milwaukee, 
Walker's Point only se\en \oters of (German nationality 
thirteen. There were, however, in 
3ther Germans who had 
not been long enough 
in the country to f 

vote. In September, 
1844, Moritz Schoeff- 
ler published the first 
number of the first Ger- 
man newspaper issued 
in the city and in fact 
the first intheTerritory 
of Wisconsin, the Wis- 
consin Banner. The 
next few years brought 
an influx of Germans 
who, particularly the 
element designated as 
the Forty-eighters,were Old Exposition i; 



Kilbourntown and 
In 1844 there were 











^:3^^^' 






Milwaukee — Seve7ity-five Years ji ^ City 



of such a high type, both as regards character and ability, that their influence 
has marked indehbly the individuality of the city. Education, art and commerce 
all owe a debt to these exceptional men and women, than whom no city and no 
country ever received a more desirable class of immigrants. 

The first Polish family came to Milwaukee about the year 1855. The Poles 
did not come in large numbers at first. It was ten years before they were 
numerous enough to establish a church of their own and then there were only 
about thirty families. In 1872, partly because of severe military service laws 
in European countries where they lived and partly because of resentment 
aroused by governmental regulations of a different character, the Poles came 
to America in large numbers and Milwaukee, from that time forward, became 
the home of increasing colonies of them. Thus it came about that the three 
elements that are dominant today, Americans, from the older states, largely of 
New England and New York stock, Germans and Poles, with a considerable 
Irish contingent that at an early day established itself in the old Third Ward, 
mingled in the up-building of the city. 

Milwaukee's Mayors 

In the 75 years that Milwaukee has been an incorporated city 32 men have 
held the office of mayor, as follows: Solomon Juneau, Horatio N. Wells, 
Byron Kilbourn, Don. A. J. Upham, George H. Walker, Hans Crocker, James 
B. Cross, William A. Prentiss, Herman L. Page, William Pitt Lynde, James 
S. Brown, Horace Chase, Edward O'Neil, Abner Kirby, John J. Tallmadge, 
Joseph Phillips, Harrison Ludington, David G. Hooker, A. R. R. Butler, John 
Black, Thomas H. Brown, John M. Stowell, Emil Wallber, George W. Peck, 
Peter J. Somers, John C. Koch, William G. Rauschenberger, David S. Rose, 
Sherburn M. Becker, Emil Seidel, Gerhard A. Bading, and Daniel W. Hoan. 




H 73 



yo 



o 



5451 



^oV" 







o > 

















.0 



^^o ^ °x 








A. 













^(y " ° -. ^>. 

.0 



/#!^x f'SB 78 

^C ""^ N MANCHESTER. 
■ ■■ INDIANA 



